Hi All
I'm new to this site and am hoping the collective brains out there will be able to help...
I have an 11 year old Bearded Collie. She came to us when she was 6 years old and was fed on James Wellbeloved dry food - usually the white fish & rice variety. She did very well on this until a couple of years ago when she started having occasional stomach upsets - early in the morning her stomach would start gurgling very loudly and all she wanted to do was go out and eat grass. She would pass a normal stool but would be clearly 'down', lethargic and off her food until late in the afternoon when she picks up and wants her food. The stomach gurgling is sometimes accompanied by flatulence and very occasionally she has a bout of diarrhoea. The following day she absolutely fine and back to full Beardie bounce.
The vet's diagnoses was possible pancreatitis and recommend a change to Royal Canin Low Fat prescription diet. I know that such foods aren't always what they claim to be but the change in diet did immediately resolve the stomach problems, so we have stuck with it and she has been symptom free for a good 18 months or so. However the symptoms have now returned and she is now having one of these episodes once a week. Blood tests including a mal absorption test have come back normal and the vet is puzzled. So for 6 days out of 7 we have an extremely fit & healthy Beardie, showing no signs of age, and not on any medication.
The obvious thing is to try her on a different food but I'm struggling to know what to try and have spent hours trying to work it all out. The main difference between the James Wellbeloved and prescription diet was the drop in Fibre and Fat content. The prescription diet is poultry based and does contain wheat, so it makes sense to head for a grain free, fish based food. But the low fat ones I can find, seem to be much higher in fibre e.g. Wafcol Salmon & Potato. Is this a bad thing? Something like Robbie's Brown Rice & Salmon has similar levels of Fibre & Fats but still includes Oats. So really confused as to which way to go

Just wondered if anyone has any similar experience and can offer advice?